Christopher Booker:
If there was any ambiguity surrounding the intent of the Taliban, it’s mostly gone now. As each province falls, whether in the north, south, east or west – their sprint through the country seems part of a larger effort for complete control of Afghanistan.
While the capital city Kabul still stands, as the Taliban expands their control, from Kunduz last Sunday, to Kandahar. Herat and Lashkar Gah on Friday, the circle surrounding democratically elected Afghanistan continues to shrink.
For the Islamic fundamentalists, Kabul could well be the final prize, but for the Afghans currently in that rapidly shrinking space who have been participating in the nearly 20-year effort to build a more robust civil society, a Taliban victory will most certainly be accompanied by untold terror. And while the two-decade effort included untold thousands, there is an frantic effort underway in to save a few of them: Afghanistan’s 250 female judges.
